Why Are Copywriters So Expensive?

"It took me a whole day to complete my first sales letter. At the end of the day I read the letter but the copy didn't move me at all. I was disappointed."

While I understand what you are saying, this may actually be a GOOD thing....rather than the impact that it has on you, ultimately you want the sales copy to move the audience you are marketing to. There are things said that may not move me in particular, but part of being a good marketing means knowing the emotional triggers of your target market/niche.

...also, sometimes a sales letter is more of an evolution, rather than just something hashed out in a day. Don't get discouraged if your first product wasn't up to your standard, especially after a day. With the dynacism involved in the subject matter of one of my products, and how it relates to the target market, my sales letter for that product in particular has been a continual work in progress: an evolution based on greater research and knowledge acquired, over time, to help me better hone it and market the product.

I think what a lot of marketers miss is that a skilled copywriter is NOT just someone in charge of putting words to paper.

But, he or she helps run the show. A good copywriter also:

* Helps you craft your offer (pricing, guarantee, what bonuses are included, and so on)
* Helps you define how you're unique and fit into the market place
* Brings to the table past experience with a wide-range of markets and challenging experiences.
* Offers formatting suggestions to pull-in eyeballs and get your message read
* Develops your voice
* Identifies the exact words that need to be said... when they need to be said... and nothing more.
* Slaves away to craft the perfect headline and deck copy (I spend 2-3 days just crafting headlines for each product)

Plus, so much more. In other words, your copywriter is your secret weapon. The right one can make or break the success of your product... ESPECIALLY when your new to a market or you're up against stiff competition.

This is why even the most "expensive" copywriter who know his or her stuff is really a darn right bargain.

Yep. Copy. Good times.

Building copy is a pretty gnarly experience. I do it for some 7-figure niche owners and it's always an emotional, intense practice that *always* needs to yield the expected result. Its not for everyone, for sure. However I do salute you for your effort! Keep trying and keep learning. Its how we all get to a better place.

The copy writers I have talked to about the process of making good sales copy have emphasized that the most important part of the process is learning to identify a products' target market...

They have stated that in some cases, they have spent up to 6 months learning about the target audience and how to move those folks, before they put the first word of copy into a sales letter...

The lesson is that while the copy can usually be written, fine-tuned, and perfected over a few days or weeks, the preparation to write the copy could take weeks or months in order to get it right...

As you might expect, Preparation comes before Success in the dictionary, and in real life...

If you think a top level copywriter is expensive for your business... wait until you hire a shoddy copywriter

The bad ones will lose you MUCH more money than you will make with a top craftsman... those who are good with words, are worth it, every single time, when it comes to copy

Jay

Also, keep in mind that the sales letter IS a product. The prospect is buying into two things. The copy that fulfills them emotionally (fear, greed, anticipation), which is an avenue to get them to their next desire, the hard product, which takes care of their practical, logical, action-step side. (We justify our purchase as important action steps to success, fulfillment etc, even though it all goes back to the sales letter's point of addressing fear, greed etc).

The FIRST product (letter) has to be superior to the second product (hard product) because if the first one isn't bought, the second never will be either.

So when you buy copy, you're really buying a product that has to perform perfectly.

Ok, small rant over.

Answered it right there in the first sentence. Because of the huge impact to your bottom line.

Not only that, but as you have outlined in your post it takes a lot longer to write copy (with the research and tweaking etc...) than an ebook or even articles. so lots of man hours go into it.

Lee

did you know it took 600 hours to come up with the first 10 seconds of the ginsu infomercial?

Why are we so expensive?

Because if you get everything right...

... the product...

... the launch...

... the JV support...

... and everything that goes with those things...

... a good copywriter just might make you a
millionaire many times over.

Hiring the right copywriter for the right project
is like buying hundred dollar bills for $10 each.

And that's why we're expensive. We're worth it.

-David Raybould

This thread is gold.

Investing in a copywriter is just that.

an INVESTMENT!

Don't cheap out on your copywriting, especially if you put in a lot of time, effort, and money. You'd be doing yourself a major disservice.

- Dean

Now you understand how a guy like Dan Kennedy can charge $250,000 PLUS 15 % of the gross to the right client selling the right product. In some cases, that is still a bargain to the vendor.
let me see... 1.5% conversion at a $1500 gross/$1200 net with 10,000 eyeballs a day =$18K
15% conversion = 180K
30%... 360K
A day!
How much are you willing to lose?

Of course, if you ARE willing to loose some AND test, test, test... You can someday command that 'stupid' money.

Did I do the math right? & sure, those gigs are far and few between (one a year would make me a happy man) and few are in DK's 'class' (not to mention, his 'selling' a gig for that ALSO has to be 1st class, so he is really doing two sales .) But you get the idea. There are people who CAN sell ice to Eskimos if that is what you are needing to sell. Paying them for that talent, born with or learned is not a wrong thing.

In car sales, we are consistently paying a person selling 30 cars a month a whole lot more than one selling the national average of 9 or so a month. Why not copywriters that write sales copy? Only makes sense to me.

LAW OF ECONOMICS - The higher the demand for a service, the higher the price. So, one of the reasons is because all of us need copywriters.

If you think they are expensive, why not become a copywriter?

I was heard from an educationist, "If you think that education is expensive, try ignorance."

They will not be expensive if YOU don't need them. And what you term "expensive" may be very cheap to the other person. It's sometimes in the eyes of the beholder and also depends on the angle you are looking at it.

Just my candid opinion.

Legendary direct mail copywriter Gary Halbert said “being on target is much more important than being facile with words” - which is pretty surprising coming from a copywriter, don't you think? He said rather than concentrating on your copy – your words – you should be concentrating on who your target audience is.

Gary illustrated that by once asking an audience “To the men in this room - how many of you are addicted to knitting?” No one raised their hand and he made the point that no matter how great the copy may be, a salespage for a knitting machine (say) wasn't going to sell a single product to this group.

The opinions on this thread range from the extreme left to the extreme right of the spectrum ....

Its the same argument as which is better a Fiat Punto or a Ferrari F430 - sure both with get you from A - B - C - D,

But there are advantages and disadvantages to both.

1) Fiat Punto is economical and has a low resale value - The Ferrari is the opposite
2) Anyone can afford a Punto - Its takes investment to afford a Ferrari

As a former Financial Advisor back in South Africa. I quickly realised that the success you saw in your business (insurance) was very very dependant on how your potential client saw you. To be honest that is as shallow as we all are, we base many of our opinions on what we see - and make judgements based on these emotions.

When you are considering using a financial advisor - would you lean more towards the advisor who portrays the traits of success and has a shinny ferrari in your driveway when he visits you ... or the guy driving a Punto ... Of course most of you will say ... The guy with the Punto is my guy .. the guy with the Ferrari has to much money ... But we do exactly the opposite subconsciencely ...

Sales letters are an investment that will make or break your online business ...

davewebsmith

"In Japan the hand can be used like a knife, but this method doesn't work with a tomato."

On Earth the pen can be used like a spear, but this method doesn't work with a sales letter.

:-Don

Just to add to the already excellent comments, think of it like this:

Sure, you can get "cheap" copy done. There are lots of "cheap" copywriters around.

But the difference between a "cheap" copywriter and a more "expensive" one might be a
conversion rate of 1% compared to 2%.

Not much difference, right?

Wrong.

If a 1% sales letter pulls you in $2,000 of sales a month... a 2% sales letter will bring you
$4,000 a month.

That's $2,000 a month you'd have thrown down the drain by hiring the "cheap" copywriter.

Now, I put quotes around the words "cheap" and "expensive" because these words are
somewhat subjective.

If you're just starting out with your first product, I appreciate you might think even just $1,000
is "expensive".

However, if you look at this figure in perspective, what kind of sales do you want to achieve a
month?

In the example above, if you're making $2,000 of sales a month (with a 1% conversion rate),
that's $24,000 a year.

If an "expensive" copywriter were to make that $48,000 a year (2% conversion), what's that
EXTRA 1% conversion worth to you?

You do the math...

Why Are Copywriters So Expensive?

Because they know how to persuade clients
to pay those big fees. And if they can do that
then they can persuade the client's prospects
to pay the smaller fees.

I always wonder why plumbers charge so much
to unclog toilets.

-Ray Edwards

You could sell this post, it's as good
an appraisal of what a first class copywriter
can do for a business
as I've seen anywhere

Stephen

All I can say is, I've been a professional copywriter for 10 years, and if I charged $47 for a long form sales letter.....then I wouldn't have been a professional copywriter for 10 years :-)

I have seen the samples from the guy selling the $47 salesletter.

They actually aren't that bad.

I'm being 100% serious. The guy has talent. His username is "prettyboy" if I recall correctly.

The layout of his WSO is pretty ugly and has some spelling mistakes, but his samples are very good.

All I know is that a copywriter ought to be in it for YOUR profit.

The good ones seem to offer it for a month FREE
and negotiate a continuity offer for additional use.

If they do good ... they get paid forever.
Id they do not ... you drop 'em and find another.

I write all day every day for my job, and that's really tough. If I had the chance to charge $1,000s for my writing, I would!

One further point. A $27 (or whatever) ebook is not the stopping point. These guys may have a $27 ebook for sale -- they ain't trying to sell a $27 ebook.

A very good reason to sell an ebook is as a stepping stone for a stream of higher value products. And at those higher price points, it does make sense to hire a copywriter.

The copywriter you want to hire should, at the earliest point, explain the lowest yield sale is usually on the front end. One-shots (or trying to earn the lion's share of profit on the one-shot) is not where you should be looking.

A whole whopping lot of these products don't set up the next sale -- they don't fit into a marketing plan. A major mistake a copywriter should point out as well. The product design itself can either help or damage your upsell potential. And many are not helping.

A lot of these $10,000 deals are about selling to house lists, and beating winning controls, not the first newbie sale.

Excellent post, Hans. Thanks for nailing that point in this thread.
On the flipside, however, my number "complaint" about copywriters is that they seem to forget that copywriting is a function of writing, not the other way around. My most common advice to copywriters who want to improve is to get a hold of E.B. White's classic essay, "The Elements of Style." It remains the
shortest, clearest and best tutorial for effective writing. I'm sure it's available online,
or any librarian would be happy to guide you to a copy.

A great post - and some excellent points raised since.

I'd just like to point out that, just as the OP discovered, writing copy (properly) is a time-consuming effort.

If a copywriter is charging $5,000 per project, and each project takes around a month, that's only $60,000 a year. Good but not exactly "Retire early and rich"

If they're grinding out copy at $2,500..?

When hiring a full-time sales and marketing professional, for at least a couple of weeks, why would anyone expect that for less than 50 bux?

Quite aside from the skills and experience a copywriter brings, his or her time is valuable too. As an example or three, I have three different project, one of them quite major, that I keep meaning to get around to. Haven't finished 'em yet as I've been busy with client's work.

When you have the skill, ability and experience, at some point you have to ask "How much is my time worth?"

But I'll leave you with one simple thought - gaining market share, on it's own, can be worth millions.

Regardless of if you work with me or another copywriter or not, your competition is going to...



Alan

Copyrwriting is a two way street. Your client has got to know what they want that copy to do.

You, on the other hand, must know how to shepherd your client to what makes sense. Meet deadlines and don't give your client weeks on end to futz around with ideas.

It's like shooting an arrow at a bullseye. If you keep holding the bow you won't shoot the arrow.

Discipline, integrity, communication, and talent are the elements at work here.

What you charge personally is your business. I never go lower than $1 per 100 words but that's a price for new clients or clients who have something I can learn from. Keeping your client's overhead low is good service but you still have to meet your bottom line in what you need for your operating basis.

A guideline is to itemize what you need at rock bottom to continue to operate. Rent/mortgage, phone lines, etc., then markup on that in relation to the job or jobs at hand.

Sometimes you may want to work for free just to get on the inside tips your client may have.

Barter.

If you have a power client who sells umpteen million products, cut a deal for the revenue or even for discounts on material like computers, services etc..

You would be surprised how some clients have googobs of discounts like airfare, hotels, hardware, software, food, and other items. They gladly dish that out because not only did they get them as bonuses but they can write them off if they fork them over to you.

I recall getting so many hotel discounts that I could live free for a year. Also, some clients have big companies that have low cost group health insurance. Barter for that if you need it.

Right now there are so many hack writers and "scouring for the cheap" producers that it fouls up the industry. There's no union nor guideline nor "board of ethics", just people at home shelling out copy at various rates.

Foreign countries, outside the U.S. that is, have writers who may charge pennies but that's because 50 cents there feeds five people for half a week. Remember, China now has more English speaking people than the U.S., Canada, and Great Britain combined. In this global market your only chance is your native English use of idioms, slang, diction.

Whenever I write a script for comics or movies/tv, I create characters from different regions and must know their particular language, slang, quirks. That's extremely difficult for writers outside of the U.S. as our slang changes monthly. That's an asset to us as we can target ad copy to those various regions.

So the pricing of your writing talent has many factors at play. The extra burden is finding honest clients amidst the maelstrom of snake oil IMers who toss one bs distraction after another in your way.

Finding those good clients and meeting your obligations is the key to success in this field. Pricing is part of the process and only you should determine your worth in relationship to the chores at hand.

Expensive ? I think the result of their work is able to produce more than they win. So, it's a win-win business. A quality copywriter will increase the ROI and the conversion ratio. And this thing can be translated in more clients and more money.

The opposing question would be "why are business owners so cheap?"

Of course, not all business owners are cheap as the success of many of us copywriters proves. It seems to be people who are new who just don't get copywriting or services such as direct response web design, landing page optimization, etc. These services are not cheap because they are income increasing services.

However, common sense also has to come into play at some point...

When you are considering hiring a copywriter many new people say things like "do you think you can get a 10% conversion rate?" or "I really need this to convert high" in the same conversation as "Umm, I only have $150 for this job" or "why does copywriting cost so much?"

Look at it like this...

If you have a bag full of raw diamonds, you have *potential* value there. Raw diamonds alone aren't worth much. Raw diamonds can be compared to a new or under converting business. There is potential there but no money is being brought in or very little is being produced.

Now let's say you take those raw diamonds to a jewel processor and ask him to cut & polish all of your diamonds to make them more valuable. Do you really want to be saying things like "Umm, all I have is $150" or "why does jewel processing cost so much?"

Probably not. You don't want him doing a bargain basement, questionable job on your diamonds because you risk them being damaged and even more devalued. You pay him his rate and in return you get a bag of cut, polished, and refined diamonds.

The copywriter is much like the jewel processor. You take your business to a copywriter and you want him to make your business more valuable, you want him to increase your response so you make more money. So why would you low ball a copywriter and try to grind his price down, which is going to do nothing but affect the quality of the copy?

Just as a jewel processor may damage your diamonds by doing a cut rate job processing them, a cut rate copywriter may harm your business with sub-par copy.

Now, don't get me wrong - I still advocate trying to get a good deal but not at the expense of your business. When you post a project for copy somewhere looking for a copywriter, set a budget. Select writers who contact you or bid according to that budget, do NOT try to low ball the writers above your budget. In many instances, this will result copy which is over lower quality than a lower priced vendor.

Another option is to e-mail copywriters directly and get quotes. Go crazy, pick 10 who you would be happy to work with and e-mail them your project specs. Once you get all 10 quotes, find one that fits within your budget and go with that writer.

Chris Elliott

I think it's all about where you are in the game. If you're the kind of person trolling the classifieds for a $47 copywriter, you're probably not making much money yourself.

Think small and you get small results.

That doesn't mean that spending more automatically gets you more in return. Simply that if you don't expect to turn a $10,000 sales letter into at least $100,000 in returned value, then I seriously doubt you'll bring in that much from your $100 bargain writer. Your mind simply isn't there.

I'm a copywriter myself, but yeah, I kind of agree with you that copywriting becomes more important as the products get more expensive. It's easier to DIY copy if you're selling a 16 dollar e-book, because you don't need to convince the prospective buyer it's going to change their life or anything like that.

Copywriters are not expensive. it depends on your definition of expensive. if you pay a copwriter that did his job and made YOU twice the amount you paid him in as little as A DAY. would you call that expensive.

however, i would agree with you that a copywriter is expensive only if the conversion SUCKS big time.

I hope you get the point.

A product creator and a copywriter sits in a bar.

PC: Hey, I've got this supercool software... just finished, ready to be shipped. Problem is... I have a really hard time finding someone who can write the kind of copy my awesome product deserves.

CW: Let me try, it'll cost you $5 000 upfront and 10% of the sales.

PC: Ok, cool. Just one minor detail... I don't want to put my business at stake, so I wont pay you until I made that money back on the sales.

CW: No way!

A week later, the product creator and the copywriter sits in another (cheaper) bar.

PC: Look, there has to be a way for us to work together. This product has huge potential, I'm talking about a real game changer... life changing stuff!

CW: Terrific!

PC: So? Will you write the copy for me?

CW: I can feel your pain.

PC: That is a yes??

CW: This is what we'll do... I buy the full rights to the product from you for $5 000 upfront plus you'll get 10% of the sales. The risk is all on me...

PC: No way!

I learned a long time ago if someone makes a task look easy and you think you can do it better because it appears so easy you are headed for heartbreak.

As TPW said "People won't pay you what you think you are worth, until you demand to be paid what you are worth..." I'm going to tape that one to my bathroom mirror to look at every day as a reminder.

Everyone is talking about investing $3000 (say) and getting ten times the sales had you gone with a cheaper copywriter: obviously a good investment.

Problem is, nobody has addressed what I believe is called the Opportunity Cost, the cost of this opportunity to spend money here instead of there. (I'm a computer driver and ex biology teacher, so if a financial type wants to correct my use of the term that's fine.) I have a paycheck I get from my real job, and it arrives every two weeks. I can go without food and bill-paying for a number of weeks to pay the copywriter, or I can feed my family and pay my bills and have $47 (or maybe $147) left over. Some of us are new at IM and proud of the ebook we've written, and would like to sell some. But in spite of the fact that we might agree with this whole thread (I do!) we really don't have the capital to invest. Well, we do, but we would like to, well, eat and stay married.

So... I bought a 'DIY Sales Letter' PDF that was pitched on one of the dozen lists I'm on, hammered something out, sat on it for a week, scrubbed it over using the checklist from this forum's sticky, and put it up for inspection. I've received some feedback which was encouraging, and some which suggested I really need to throw some money at a professional cover and site. I'll do that... on the next check. And I'll take any suggestions I get to heart.

As a high school kid I walked, and went to school in hopes that income later would let me drive. As a new writer-and-IMer living paycheck-to-paycheck I joined the War Room, read voraciously and buy occasional WSOs here... and write my own copy, in hopes that later I can hire a real copywriter.

What else can someone in my spot do?

-Tim (see my thread, "Being brave and asking for a critique..." re: www.heroicmoney.com)

Many copywriters I know won't do cheap, quick jobs because they know that the copy will end up being substandard due to the lack of editing and polishing that goes into writing K.A. copy.

In essence, any copy you put out that is substandard is a mark against your reputation... because, yes, it's true... people "do" talk and usually do their homework before slamming 10-15 G's down on your table.

What strikes me as a bit funny when it comes to writers is this:

What is holding so many copywriters back as it pertains to taking them taking their writing to the next level and writing for themselves for their own online endeavors? Unless they enjoy the challenge of dealing with clients/writing for others and researching/exploring new topics, I'm quite surprised more copywriters don't venture out on their own?

My guess is it's a lack of technical know-how or fear of the unknown that is holding them back from pursuing entrepreneurship at a higher level (and I'm speaking of mid-level or lower copywriters -- not the premier 'command their own price' ones at the high end of the spectrum.)

Ebiz Mom
Marketing with Integrity
Start Your Own Ebiz

I've found far too many companies who can afford to pay well just won't do it. They have some "I got it on the down low" mentality that makes others not want to work with them.

Well i would rather say it was a good idea to try that on your own, as now you have learned / experienced how important copywriting is, and you have not been wasting your money by getting your sales letters done from copywriters, and this is because you are actually making good amount of money via such copywriters.